PS 
3178 
.C355 
1885 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


c'cL 


Form  934— 20M— 8-34— C.P.Co. 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 

i\  .... 


•'WORDS  AND  THEIE  USES  ;*' 
•  E VERY-DAY    ENGLISH  f! 
"H  MALADY  IN  ENGLAND;" 

.  —Richard  Grant  White. 


By  Prof.  M.  CALLAWAY,  D.  D 


VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  EMORY  COLLEGE,  OXFORD,  GA. 


REPRINT  FROM 

0 u a r  :erly  review,  m.  e.  church,  south 

J.  \V.  HTNTOX.  D.D.,  Etfiftw,  Macox,  Ga. 
Terms— $2.50,  Cash  in  Advance. 


MACON,  GEORGIA: 
J.  W.  KIRKK  .fc  CO..  PRINTERS.  STATIONERS  AND  BINDKRS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/fortunatefloggin01call 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


By  Prof.  M.  CALLAWAY,  D.  D., 

VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  EMORY  COLLEGE,  OXFORD,  GEORGIA. 


"You  are  a  stupid,  idle  boy,  sir,  and  have  neglected  your  task  in 
English  Grammar.    I  shall  punish  you.    Hold  out  your  hand." 

"  I  was  just  five  and  a  half  years  old,"  says  Richard  Grant  White, 
"  when  one  Alfred  Ely,  may  his  soul  rest  in  peace,  thus  addressing  me, 
proceeded  to  reduce  my  little  hand,  just  well  in  gristle,  as  nearly  to  a 
jelly  as  he  thought  beneficial." 

Ely  was  a  kinsman  of  Squeers.  But  though  a  lineal  descendant, 
his  absurdity  was  neither  so  gross  nor  so  grotesque  as  that  of  his  bet- 
ter known  progenitor.  The  robust  ignorance  of  the  elder  becomes 
flaccid  in  the  younger  pedagogue.  Squeers  deserves  and  holds  the 
patriarchate  of  his  family,  and  will  continue  to  hold  it  through 
his  unique  merit  and  the  genius  of  his  biographer.  Ely  will  be  known 
only  by  the  chance  display  of  his  Yorkshire  origin. 

Indeed,  we  should  not  know  Ely  at  all  in  this  classic  genealogy, 
had  he  not  flogged  young  Richard  ;  nor  should  we  perhaps  have  the 
grown  up  Mr.  White  in  his  role  of  author,  but  for  his  failure  to  con 
that  now  historic  lesson.  The  force  of  the  ferule,  we  take  it,  has  been 
his  incitement.  A  seemingly  fatal,  but  a  really  fortunate  day  was 
that  when  Richard,  in  pain  and  disgust,  forsook  J 1  is  master;  for  with 
the  shame  and  suffering,  there  must,  though  unconsciously,  have  come 
to  him  the  purpose  to  reverse  Ely's  judgment.  If  so,  right  persist- 
ently has  he  cherished  his  grudge,  and  right  nobly  achieved  his  vindi- 
cation from  dullness;  for  paradoxical  as  it  may  appear,  he  has  mas- 
tered a  grammar  which  he  assures  us  does  not  exist. 

What  may  have  been  the  occasion  or  the  cause  of  Mr.  White's  devo- 
tion to  discussions  in  language  is  of  no  concern  ;  the  fact  of  his  devo- 
tion, however,  has  become  of  interest  to  the  general  reader  and  to 
scholars.    He  has  compelled  attention. 

Convictions  on  any  subject  are  to  be  respected,  and  Mr.  White  has 
convictions,  and  he  publishes  them.  He  presents  them  freely  and 
boldly,  always;  at  times,  effectively.  The  English  language,  he 
thinks,  is  the  fittest  vehicle  that  ever  carried  the  thought  of  a  people. 


P83C43 


2 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


We  share  his  conviction.  The  latest  language  of  acknowledged  rank, 
it  ought  to  be  the  best  suited  for  home  life  and  for  literature,  and  is 
fast  gaining  that  eminence.  The  admiration  of  the  language  manifest 
in  Mr.  White's  advocacy  of  its  study,  shames  our  indifference  to  the 
proprieties  of  its  use,  and  our  recklessness  in  its  misuse.  As  an  earn- 
est of  the  success  of  his  labor,  his  works  are  read  ;  no  slight  distinction 
for  one  who  appeals  to  the  intellect  and  to  unselfish  sentiment  only. 
It  is,  too,  to  the  credit  of  the  growing  good  sense  and  loyal  instinct 
of  readers  of  to-day  that  in  such  numbers  they  appreciate  the  works  of 
Matthews,  White,  Scheie  de  Vere  and  Marsh;  and  even  of  March, 
Whitney  and  MiiHer.  In  the  course  of  time,  "  Words  and  Their 
Uses,"  and  "Every-day  English,7'  may  have  as  wide  a  circulation 
as  the  "  Diversions  of  Purley." 

Successful  before  the  public  and  recognized  by  scholars  in  this 
country  and  in  England,  as  deserving  of  notice  and  patronage,  it  seems 
somewhat  out  of  place,  if  not  out  of  taste,  for  Mr.  White  to  disclaim 
professional  equipment  in  the  departments  of  learning  he  so  confi- 
dently discusses.  His  attainments  justly  class  him  with  linguistic  schol- 
ars, and  in  so  far  as  the  every-day  duties  of  language  are  involved,  his 
insight  and  aptness  make  him  the  peer  of  the  most  erudite  of  them. 
The  attention  early  won  by  his  timely  articles  in  the  "Galaxy"  and 
other  journals,  he  has  creditably  kept;  and  the  respect  accorded  his  dis- 
sertations is  merging  in  appreciation.  His  success,  however,  heightens 
the  unseemliness  of  his  disclaimer,  and  the  manner  of  his  controversy 
gives  no  relief  to  the  unpleasant  impression  its  iteration  produces. 
For  in  spite  of  this  self-disparagement,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  chal- 
lenge any  knight  of  the  pen  who  crosses  his  path,  nor  to  challenge 
any  form  of  words,  from  a  sign  over  a  victuals  stall  to  the  text  of 
Chaucer,  from  the  idol  a  fori  to  the  idola  theatri.  This  laic  disavowal 
of  learning  is  not  the  device  of  a  demagogue,  for  enthusiasm  does  not 
admit  of  policy;  and  Mr.  White  is  enthusiastic.  It  may  be  that,  at 
some  ill-starred  moment,  having  rashly  "sworn  to  his  hurt,  he  pro- 
poses to  change  not;"  or  possibly  when  he  grasps  the  pen,  Ely,  like 
the  ghost  of  Banquo,  is  mockingly  present. 

Beyond  perad venture  he  is  popularizing  linguistic  studies.  To 
this  end  Horne  Tooke  and  Trench  heretofore  labored,  but  they  reached 
a  select  class  only.  Less  conventional,  and  introducing  himself 
through  the  periodicals  of  the  day  to  a  larger  circle,  our  author  has 
been  more  fortunate.  Besides,  there  is  about  him  a  chivalric  dash 
that  is  captivating.  He  enters  the  list  as  a  free  lance  and  trusts  alone 
to  the  vigor  of  his  thrusts  for  recognition.  And  if  now  and  then  he 
makes  a  Quixotic  fight,  in  the  main  his  combats  are  real  ones,  and  for 
cause.  Eminently  an  independent  if  not  a  rebel  in  the  'republic  of 
letters  he  declines  to  subsribe  to  declared  scholastic  tests. 

That  "usage"  is  the  law  of  language  he  roundly  denies.  The  arbi- 
ters to  which  he  would  refer  all  questions  of  speech  are  "reason  and 
taste."    Admirable  ideals,  forsooth,  are  they,  if  we  can  place  and 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


3 


attain  unto  them.  But  can  we  practically  and  satisfactorily  realize 
the  significance  of  these  terras  as  employed,  or  utilize  the  guidance 
they  should  furnish  ?  We  are  not  so  sure  indeed  that,  in  offering 
this  dual  reference,  nor  in  his  revised  setting  forth  of  it,  that  he  dis- 
plays li is  wonted  clearness  of  conception  and  expression,  or  his  usual 
unyielding  certitude.  This  want  of  perspicuity  and  this  slight  con- 
cession to  possible  error,  he  would  be  the  readiest  to  detect  were  they 
the  faults  of  another,  for  he  is  constitutionally  vigilant.  But  of  a 
truth,  hesitancy  and  haziness  could  hardly  be  avoided  when  the  hazard 
of  the  undertaking  is  apprehended.  Learners,  and  scholars,  too,  for 
that  matter,  require  objective  guides,  to  say  the  least,  perceptible  and 
accessible  ones.  Abstract  and  unplaced  criteria  are  confusing,  if  not 
confounding.  Now,  outside  of  personal  endowments,  reason,  as  an 
arbiter,  is  inapprehensible.  It  is  as  vague  as  Schopenhauer's  theory 
of  "  will,"  or  Hartman's  of  "  monism."  Our  author  surely  does  not 
commend  a  suum  cidque  standard  that  would  invalidate  his  own 
supremacy.  Should  we  conceive  of  one,  after  exhausting  his  own 
capacity  and  acquirements  seeking  clear  light  or  confirmation  of  judg- 
ment from  without,  to  whom  shall  he  go?  or  to  what  shall  he  refer? 
Is  there  any  supreme  intellectual  judicatory,  any  scientific  association, 
any  literary  salon  which  could  in  any  universal  sense  meet  the  high 
behests  of  "  reason  and  taste?"  Even  in  religion,  a  normal  necessity, 
there  is  no  catholic  canon  of  truth.  Pagan  and  Christian  alike  elects 
his  own  god,  and  subscribes  to  his  preferred  oracles.  What  better 
then  can  the  doubter  in  letters  do  than  to  accept  and  conform  to  such 
measure  of  excellence  as  is  most  approved  and  is  easiest  of  approach  ? 
In  a  given  branch  of  study,  what  safer  course  is  there  for  the  student 
than  to  consult  those  who  have  familiarized  themselves  with  its  his- 
tory, nature  and  possibilities?  Nay,  further,  we  may  ask,  can  abso- 
lute reason  be  exercised  in  other  than  moral,  metaphysical  and 
mathematical  questions,  in  which  there  may  be  absolute  right  and 
wrong?  There  being,  from  the  nature  of  things,  no  infallibly  correct 
standard  of  speech,  the  reason  can  be  employed  only  in  discriminating 
rival  forms  of  speech  as  to  effectiveness  and  acceptability.  But  then 
the  conclusion  would  be  subject  to  revision  and  reversal.  The  laws 
of  speech,  such  as  they  are,  like  civil  statutes,  are  the  result  of  a  pre- 
vious and  often  tacitly  converging  consent.  The  principle  of  the 
habeas  corpus  was  in  the  hearts  of  our  Saxon  ancestors  before  its 
promulgation  at  Kunymede.  And  intelligent  men  had  observed  the 
tendency  to  certain  forms  in  conversation  and  writing  before  works 
on  grammar,  rhetoric  and  logic  were  formulated.  These  sciences  only 
declare  what  is  already  to  be  found  in  society  and  literature,  just  as  a 
law  only  proclaims  the  judgment  of  a  people.  But  in  the  matter  of 
language  the  history  of  a  precedent  is  more  difficult  to  give  than  the 
history  of  a  principle  in  constitutional  law.  The  existence  of  words 
cannot  always  be  accounted  for,  and  historically  they  can  be  traced 
only  through  extant  literature.    We  may  find  our  English  <!ara."  in 


P63043 


4 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


the  Sanskrit  "asmi."  But  after  all,  "  asmi"  is  not  really  our  "  am," 
nor  does  the  fact  of  relationship  answer  the  "  why"  of  its  original  use. 
The  use  of  reason  in  the  consideration  of  forms  is  a  later  work,  com- 
ing after  the  language  is  advanced  to  something  of  maturity.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  cannot  be  exercised  in  determining 
idiomatic  forms.  Can  reason  determine  whether  men  shall  say  with 
the  French,  eheval  noire,  or  "  black  horse"  after  the  manner  of  the 
English-speaking?  Would  not  reason  become  unreasoning  were  it 
to  set  itself  to  adjusting  an  idiom  ? 

Moreover  there  are  some,  who,  whatever  may  be  their  capability 
in  special  directions,  are  without  the  discipline  essential  to  qualify 
them  for  the  subtler  exercises  of  "reason  and  taste/7  No  doubt  Mr. 
White  writes  for  a  class  much  in  need  of  this  awakening;  but  with 
somewhat  more  of  caution  in  the  declaration  ot  his  opinions,  he  might 
at  the  same  time,  be  equally  stimulative  to  a  less  instructed  class. 
We  fear,  indeed,  that  he  over-gauges  the  recipiency  of  those  for  whom 
he  specifically  writes.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  lower  classes  in  city  and 
country  are  not  helpfully  reached  in  their  educational  and  social  wants, 
because  their  wants  are  not  definitely  known,  nor  practically  con- 
sidered. It  is  an  easy  thing  to  speak  English,  if  born  to  the  blessing 
of  a  home,  where,  from  those  about  us,  we  gather  words  with  as  little 
thought  as  we  pluck  flowers,  and  are  so  surrounded  by  blocks  and 
books,  and  by  papers  and  pictures,  that  we  cannot  recall  the  time 
when  we  could  not  read.  Most  children  in  the  United  States  are  not 
born  in  such  a  home  nor  to  the  heritage  of  such  helps.  Few  of  "our 
forefathers  were  in  the  habit  of  getting  themselves  born  in  and  about 
Middlefcown,  Connecticut,"  nor  can  many  boast  that  "  both  of  their 
grandfathers  were  graduates  of  Yale."  If,  then,  we  include  in  our 
educational  schemes  the  lowlier  born,  our  plans  of  study  should,  as 
far  as  practicable,  be  accommodated  to  the  exigencies  of  their  misfor- 
tune. To  the  child  of  poverty  and  ignorance  is  it  not  cruelly  dis- 
couraging to  say:  "If  you  hear  poor  English  and  read  poor  English, 
you  will  pretty  surely  speak  poor  English  and  write  poor  English-?" 
Shall  we  cover  the  indigent  with  a  cloud  of  despair?  When  they 
cry  for  bread  shall  we  give  them  a  stone?  While  they  are  groping 
for  light  shall  we  tantalize  them  with  a  treacherous  mirage  f 

It  is  true,  as  of  the  case  in  hand,  that  we  do  not  commonly  speak 
and  write  our  mother-tongue  with  grace  and  fitness  unless  well  cra- 
dled ;  and  yet,  not  reckoning  geniuses,  as  Bunyan  and  Shakespeare, 
are  not  the  ranks  of  scholarly  men,  of  statesmen,  and  even  the  coteries 
of  the  cultured,  often  recruited  and  invigorated  from  the  lower  classes 
of  our  citizens?  Is  there  not  in  all  free  governments  an  evolution 
going  on  which  carries  hope  to  the  humblest?  Our  liberalizing  insti- 
tutions encourage  the  thought  among  philanthropists  that  the  school- 
house  and  chapel,  under  wise  management,  are  capable  ot  largely 
redeeming  many  from  the  disabilities  of  their  birth  and  breeding. 

A  censor  of  speech,  Mr.  White  finds  employment  from  necessity  as 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


5 


well  as  from  inclination.  For  there  are  deficiencies  and  fullnesses, - 
over-refinements  and  coarsenesses,  in  our  conversations,  our  text-books 
and  our  literature;  and  to  the  abatement  of  these  he  addresses  himself 
with  spirit  and  acuteness,  not  always  with  discretion  and  discrimina- 
tion. Among  other  things  of  more  or  less  consequence  he  discounts 
the  value  of  marks  of  quantity,  accent  and  the  like,  used  in  our  spell- 
ing books  and  dictionaries  to  indicate  pronunciation.  Well,  they  are 
not  unfailing  indices  to  any,  and,  of  course,  are  not  indispensable  to 
one  who  learns  his  mother-tongue  from  an  educated  mother.  We 
suppose  that  no  one  claims  that  thpy  are  more  than  auxiliary  to  right 
pronunciation.  But  with  competent  teachers  they  go  far  to  supple- 
ment the  lack  of  home  training.  The  common  school,  indeed,  is  the 
foster-mother  of  the  children  of  the  poor;  and  on  this  delegated  first 
work  of  instruction  their  possible  elevation  depends.  Many  do 
become  proficient  in  their  vernacular  by  these  and  other  adventitious 
aids,  and  some  who  have  no  occasion  to  plead  want  of  environment  or 
of  opportunity  are  glad  to  consult  these  sign-boards  for  the  preven- 
tion of  unscholarly  digressions.  Teachers  generally  agree  with  our 
critic  that  the  difficulty  of  ''learning  to  spell"  is  unduly  magnified, 
and  that  the  difficulty  is  compensated  by  the  discipline.  A  boy  of 
"sprag  memory,"  as  Parson  Evans  phrases  it,  will  master  the  spell- 
ing book  at  least  by  the  time  he  is  readv  for  more  thoughtful  study. 
To  the  "hard"  words,  wherein  the  discipline  is  more  thorough,  his 
memory,  as  lichens  to  the  rougher  bark,  clings  but  the  closer.  Words 
from  foreign  languages  are  more  rarely  misspelled  than  Saxon  ones; 
and  of  the  Saxon,  those  of  peculiar  structure  and  sound  are  longest 
remembered.  The  "  ough  "  class,  nobody  forgets.  Some  dissent, 
however,  may  arise  to  the  virtual  restriction  of  learning  to  spell  to 
the  single  sense  of  hearing.  Letters  may  not  indicate  the  sound  of 
words  accurately;  they  were  not  intended  so  to  do;  they  are  only 
helpers.  But  it  might  be  well  to  consider  how  long  a  language  could 
be  kept  uniform  without  visual  helps.  .  For  confirmation  of  this  ten- 
dency to  dissonance  an  acquaintance  with  any  illiterate  population  is 
sufficient.  Language  without  literature  becomes  confusingly  dialectic. 
The  method  of  teaching  to  spell  without  the  names  of  the  letters  does 
not  conflict  with  the  fact  that  the  letters  are  still  suggestive  of  the 
sounds.  The  single  sense  of  hearing  is  insufficient  for  the  acquisition 
of  pure  speech.  Its  untrustworthiness  in  part  causes  phonetic  decav 
to  proceed,  notwithstanding  the  prevalence  of  "  the  art  preservative  of 
all  arts."  Were  audition  perfect,  vocalization  would  become  more 
articulate;  and  once  taking  in  clearly  the  form  of  a  word,  it  would  be 
correctly  stereotyped  in  the  memory  and  purely  syllabled  by  the  tongue. 
Every  precaution,  therefore,  that  tends  to  save  us  from  the  errors  of 
defective  hearing  should  be  taken  by  the  teacher,  and  encouraged  by 
the  formers  of  school-opinion.  The  ear  must  be  saved  from  false 
reports  by  the  vigilance  of  the  eye ;  and  to  further  this  co-operation 
the  teacher  requires  the  pupil  to  reproduce  the  signs  and  characters 


6 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


on  the  black-board.  It  is  observed  that,  in  many  words,  illiterate 
adults  do  not  distinguish  the  sound  of  the  singular  termination  from 
the  plural,  even  when  the  formation  is  simple  and  regular;  but  when 
taught  to  spell,  the  distinction  is  readily  uttered.  These  facts  being 
assumed,  it  may  not  be  too  radical  an  induction  to  suppose  that  purer 
English  might  be  spoken  by  one  without  special  social  advantages, 
but  regularly  taught,  than  by  one  not  thus  taught,  but  who,  for  some 
reason,  has  come  in  contact  with  good  company. 

We  heartily  concur  in  our  author's  opinion  of  phonetic  spelling. 
His  treatment  is  able  and  conclusive,  and  leaves,  we  think,  no  room 
for  a  rejoinder  by  its  advocates.  In  the  chapters  on  this  topic  he 
manifests  a  power  nowhere  else  put  forth — doubtless  because  it  was 
not  elsewhere  called  for.  Grappling  with  Ellis  and  Miilier,  however, 
he  is  on  his  muscle,  on  the  principle  that  "  it  more  excites  to  arouse 
a  lion  than  to  start  a  hare."  He  makes  the  whole  movement  farcical 
and  its  promoters  absurd. 

Phonetic  reformers  contend  that  there  is  no  need  for  the  spelling  of 
one's  written  language,  agreeing  as  Mr.  White  suggests,  with  the 
philosophy  of  Dogberry,  that  "  to  be  a  well-favored  man  is  the  gift 
of  God,  but  reading  and  writing"  (and,  of  course,  spelling,)  "come  by 
nature;"  that  all  that  is  necessary  to  make  phonetic  writing  practica- 
ble is  the  provision  of  a  letter  for  each  sound,  and  these  provided, 
nothing  further  is  to  be  done  but  to  order  the  adoption  of  the  alpha- 
bet. Replying  facetiously  but  none  the  less  tellingly  to  these  falla- 
cies, Mr.  White  takes  up  the  arguments  of  the  reformers  as  to  waste 
of  time  and  money  by  the  present  system,  showing  that  the  old  is  as 
easily  learned  as  any  new  system  of  spelling,  and  that  the  loss  by  the 
change,  which  is  one  of  money  and  literature,  would  be  great — the 
loss  of  literature  to  the  coming  generations  irreparable.  Narrowing 
the  issue,  he  examines  with  care  the  systems  of  Ellis  and  Pitman,  and 
electing  Miiller's  as  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor  of  change,  he 
replies,  in  substance,  that  reforms  can  be  conducted  by  slow  processes 
only,  that  the  alphabets  proposed  do  not  harmonize,  that  phonologists 
themselves  are  in  discord  as  to  the  sounds  they  would  represent;  that 
even  in  the  sound  of  as  simple  and  oft- spoken  words  as  "  man  "  and 
"God,"  there  is  no  consonance  of  opinion,  and  extorts  the  confession 
from  one  of  the  ablest  advocates  of  reform  that  the  revision  of  any 
alphabet  agreed  upon  would  be  constantly  in  order.  Nevertheless, 
the  reformers  are  not  suppressed.  From  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius,  who  was  a  phonetic  reformer,  to  this  day,  some  one  at  inter- 
vals appears  to  repeat  the  experiment.  Like  efforts  to  establish  per- 
petual motion,  new  schemes  of  phonetic  spelling  are  persistently 
brought  forward.  William  Taylor,  Bishop  of  Africa,  for  the  sup- 
posed speedier  furtherance  of  his  missionary  campaign,  carries  with 
him  the  New  Testament  in  phonetic  characters.  Parts  of  the  Bible 
have  been  before  put  in  Pitman's  alphabet,  for  the  natives  of  Nova 
Scotia.     What  greater  success  Taylor  may  have  in  Christianizing 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


7 


the  African,  through  this  text,  cannot  be  known  till  tried  ;  but  if  a 
knowledge  of  English  be  precedent  to  conversion,  we  should  fear  dis- 
appointment. Unless  the  African  is  to  be  limited  in  his  reading  to 
the  New  Testament,  it  would  seem  better  to  adhere  to  the  old  spell- 
ing.   But  Taylor  is  given  to  novel,  as  well  as  to  noble,  enterprises. 

If  it  be  worth  while  to  keep  up  a  connected  history  of  language, 
and,  for  its  own  sake,  and  for  its  disclosures  of  past  civilizations,  it  is 
then,  that  orthography,  conforming  most  nearly  to  etymology,  remind- 
ing us  of  an  earlier  significance  and  association  of  words,  should  be 
the  one  to  commend  and  preserve.  Nor  would  such  a  system  appre- 
ciably add  to  the  labor  of  the  learner. 

We  cannot,  altogether,  agree  with  our  author  in  his  "desultory 
denunciation  of  dictionaries."  To  his  denunciation  there  is  a  formi- 
dable counter-judgment, in  the  fact  that  dictionaries  are  the  resort  and 
support  of  all  classes  of  men.  But  there  are  intrinsic  reasons  for 
dissent. 

If,  as  claimed,  Johnson's  Dictionary  did  not  enlarge  the  resources 
of  our  language,  it  realized  the  resources,  which  is  a  virtual  enlarge- 
ment. It  was  not  his  province  to  coin  words,  and  he  seldom  essayed 
the  mintage ;  but  he  did  correct  and  define,  as  best  he  could,  the  ver- 
bal coinage  of  English  writers  down  to  his  day,  and  thereby  disclosed, 
to  each  living  writer  and  speaker,  the  opulence  of  his  contemporaries. 
By  wider  search  for  material,  and  more  consistent  etymologies, 
improvement  is  apparent  in  the  works  of  subsequent  compilers. 
Though,  in  one  place,  Mr.  White  insists  that  changes  in  language 
are  so  constant  and  so  subtle,  "  that  a  dictionary  can  hardly  be 
launched  upon  the  public  before  it  becomes  to  be  historical,  a  record 
of  obsolescent  sounds  and  meanings;"  yet,  elsewhere,  he  says,  that 
the  language  of  Shakespeare  is  potentially  the  same  as  ours  of  to-day. 
This  being  true,  a  dictionary  then  issued  would  be  only  less  valuable 
than  the  poet's  personal  legacy. 

Furthermore,  the  dictionary  is  builded  like  a  national  cathedral — 
one  presiding  genius,  an  Angelo  or  a  Wrenn,  gives  constructive 
embodiment  to  the  Christian  ideal  of  his  time ;  but,  then,  others — 
artists,  artisans  and  workers — contribute  of  their  skill  and  toil  to  the 
completion  of  the  architectural  design.  Besides  their  own  gather- 
ings, and  the  stores  of  their  predecessors,  lexicographers  impress 
experts  of  all  schools  of  learning  and  science  and  art  ;  so  that,  what- 
ever defects  the  resultant  accumulation  may  manifest,  it  is  a  work 
more  nearly  perfect  than  could  be  produced  on  any  other  feasible 
basis.  The  introduction  of  the  technical  terms  is  not  objectionable, 
for  these  are  of  interest  to  others,  as  well  as  to  specialists.  The  mere 
vocabulary  thus  compiled,  is  a  work  of  comprehensive  diligence — a 
collection  of  facts,  of  facts  as  a  column  of  figures  is  a  record  of  num- 
bers, and  the  question,  if  any  be  asked,  is:  What  is  left  out?  Mr. 
White  complains  not  of  incompleteness.  As  to  the  names  of  the 
words,  there  is  as  little  uncertainty  as  about  the  names  of  the  digits. 


8 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


A  few  strokes  of  the  pen  discriminates  dollars  and  cents,  pounds  and 
shillings,  and  a  touch  or  two  of  the  pen  scales  the  accent  and  vowel 
power  of  words.  The  "  content,"  too,  of  words,  is  as  easily  deter- 
mined as  the  value  of  a  dollar  or  a  pound — what  it  passes  for,  its  mar- 
ket value,  no  more,  no  less.  The  thought- value  of  a  word  varies 
less  than  the  buying  powers  of  a  coin,  or  a  bill  of  exchange.  A  word 
may  not  vary  in  sound,  form  or  sense,  in  a  century  ;  but  should 
changes  occur  in  decades  or  in  shorter  periods,  lexicography  keeps 
pace  with  the  trend,  and  notes  every  condition  of  word-life — the  liv- 
ing, the  lingering  and  the  dying.  Dictionaries  are  the  consolidated 
ballots  of  free  intelligence,  the  plebiscites  of  literary,  scientific  and 
commercial  opinion.  The  exponents  of  conservatism,  they  are  also 
the  water-marks  of  fluctuations.  They  are  not  simply  the  reposito- 
ries of  verbal  stores  for  men  of  leisure  and  learning,  but  also  for  the 
homelier  wants  of  working  men;  and  lexicographers  are  not  so  much 
autocrats  of  speech,  as  the  tribunes  of  popular  usage. 

The  prominence  of  scientific  studies  in  the  schools,  and  the  preva- 
lence of  scientific  thought  in  the  periodic  and  other  publications  of 
the  day,  and  the  consequent  increasing  utilization  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge in  commercial,  mechanical  and  other  industries,  suggests  the 
possible  neglect  of  the  humanities  and  cognate  studies;  that  first 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  next  that  German,  French  and  English  would 
be  lightly  regarded,  specially  as  bound  up  with  the  older  group  of 
languages.  The  Germans,  as  is  their  wont,  have  settled  the  matter 
for  themselves,  by  experiment.  Thirty  years  ago  they  instituted  a 
competition  between  the  classical  course,  including  the  physical  sci- 
ences, and  the  scientific  course  excluding  the  ancient  languages  ;  and 
the  result  determines  them  on  the  retention  of  the  classical  course. 
The  experiment  was  wisely  enterprised,  and  the  conclusion  readied 
is  not  surprising.  But,  lest  this  statement  be  misleading,  it  should 
be  said  that  the  conclusion  does  not  adequately  express  the  influence 
exerted  by  revived  scientific  study.  The  rank  and  file  of  educators 
did  not  look  for  any  abrupt  thrusting  out  of  the  classics;  but  they 
did  look  for  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  study  given  them  ; 
and  the  change  anticipated  has  begun,  and  will  continue.  In  our 
colleges  and  universities  the  classics  are  retained  and  taught,  but  with 
reference  to  the  changed  conditions,  brought  about  by  the  activity  in 
physical  inquiry.  An  era  of  scientific  investigation  calls  for  scientific 
methods,  and  these,  as  best  they  may,  are  to  be  applied  to  linguistics, 
as  well  as  to  studies  in  physics.  The  student  of  English  is  not  insen- 
sible to  the  spirit  of  the  times.  With  quickened  historic  interest,  he 
is  going  to  the  nearer  sources  of  its  life — the  Saxon,  the  Latin  and 
the  Romanic  tongues — and  when  girded  for  the  pilgrimage,  extends 
his  search  to  the  remotest  fountain,  the  Sanskrit.  The  science  of 
language  is  based  on  the  data  of  grammars,  and  the  philosophy  of 
grammar.  And,  while  some  of  the  members  of  the  Aryan  family 
require  grammars  fuller  in  forms  and  flexions  than  the  English,  this 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGIXG. 


9 


is  no  sufficient  reason  for  excluding  its  grammar  from  our  courses  of 
study.  If  for  no  other  purpose,  it  might  be  retained  to  show  its  kin- 
ship to  the  other  members  of  the  family,  and  how,  albeit  the  young- 
est, it  is  nevertheless  the  freest  in  construction  ;  and  how,  forsooth, 
it  has  grown  obedient  to  the  calls  of  commerce,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
remains  plastic  for  the  more  varied  and  trying  offices  of  literature. 

Were  it  true  to  the  extreme  of  Mr.  White's  opinion  that,  the  Eng- 
lish is  a  grammarless  tongue,  it  yet  might  not  be  a  waste  of  time, 
as  it  certainly  has  not  in  his  case,  to  ascertain  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
what  the  exemption  from  forms  consists.  Or  if  perchance  some 
reminders  of  a  former  inflection  survive,  the  grammarian  might  be 
granted  the  professional  pleasure  of  explaining  the  survival.  Ichthy- 
ologists, we  believe,  are  not  censured  for  showing  germs  of  eves  in 
sightless  fish.  The  English  language,  like  English  political  institu- 
tions, has  had  its  conflicts  and  its  compromises  ;  and  naturally  enough 
the  most  notable  of  these  mutations  occurred  during  the  same  epochs. 
Succeeding  the  Xorman  Conquest,  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth 
century,  with  varying  fortune,  war  for  supremacy  was  waged  between 
the  Saxon  and  Xorman  tongues.  The  language  was  for  a  time 
bilingual.  A  single  line  from  Robert  of  Gloucester's  "  Battle  of 
Hastings"  will  illustrate — 

6  A  thousend  and  sixe  and  sixtie,  this  bataile  was  ido.' 

Trevisa  fixes  on  the  plague  of  1349  as  the  "French  much  used 
tofore  the  grete  deth,  but  sith  it  is  some  dele  chaunged."  And  so  at 
other  memorable  periods,  changes  came  about  to  the  struggling  Saxon 
and  his  sturdy  tongue. 

Xow  half  appeared 
The  tawny  lion,  straggling  to  get  free 
His  hinder  parts,  then  springs  as  broke  from  bonds, 
And  rampant  shakes  his  brinded  mane. 

At  such  periods,  with  more  or  less  resoluteness,  the  language,  as  if 
weary  of  constraint,  shook  off  some  of  its  encumbering  forms.  But 
neither  did  the  government  grow  weaker,  nor  the  language  less  flex- 
ible. The  less  of  grammar  required,  the  stronger  and  more  direct 
the  language  ;  but  no  written  language  can  long  live  without  a  gram- 
mar ;  for,  that  it  may  be  self-perpetuating  it  must  be  formal.  For 
obvious  reasons  the  spoken  and  the  written  language  differ.  If  men 
never  wrote,  rules  and  forms  of  speech  might  be  dispensed  with  ;  for 
our  meaning,  though  not  lucidly  expressed,  might  by  tone  and  ges- 
ture be  correctly  communicated.  As  long,  however,  as  an  exact 
transcript  of  thought  in  characters  is  desirable,  so  long  must  the 
writer  be  careful  in  the  construction  of  his  sentences.  If  limited  to 
inflections  and  declensions,  grammar  offers  little  to  engage  the  stu- 
dent. Undoubtedly,  the  logic  is  more  important  than  the  forms  of 
grammar,  but  that  is  but  tantamount  to  saying  that  the  thought  is 
nobler  than  the  language  that  conveys  it — the  rider  than  his  chariot. 


10 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


Logic  is  rightly  ordered  thought,  but  it  is  also  primarily  rightly 
ordered  words.  It  concatenates  ideas,  but  it  also  connects  words.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  could  there  be  any  sentence-making  on  a  grammati- 
cal basis  without  the  ideas  of  "  subject"  and  "predicate?"  and  yet 
these  same  ideas  are  the  framework,  if  not  the  body  of  logic.  Really, 
so  far  as  our  knowledge  of  schools  and  teaching  extends,  logical  gram- 
mar is  that  to  which  most  attention  is  given,  because  most  important. 
Rut  we  should  bear  in  mind  it  is  not  first  learned.  All  first  strug- 
gles for  knowledge  are  easily  forgotten,  and  those  put  forth  for  the 
mastery  of  our  mother  tongue  form  no  exception  to  the  general 
facility.  The  teacher  oftenest  reminded  of  these  efforts,  best  knows 
that,  without  the  elementary  drill  in  the  confessedly  meager  forms  of 
our  grammar,  and  without  repeated  analysis  and  synthesis  of  sen- 
tences, no  creditable  scientific  knowledge  of  speech  is  attainable. 

Our  author's  strictures  on  the  study  of  grammar  are  not  all  unde- 
serving, nor  li is  ridicule  of  grammarians  without  instances  illustra- 
tive; but  he  himself  is  not  unassailable.  He  appears  as  dogmatic  as 
the  grammarians  of  whom  he  complains.  Grammarians  disagree 
among  themselves,  but  Mr.  White  differs  with  them  all  and  denounces 
them  all.  Rut  he  is  not  always  consistent  in  his  denunciation,  nor 
philosophic  in  his  deliverances.  At  times  he  manifests  deficiency  in 
the  judicial  faculty.  Not  always  guarded  in  his  own  statements  of 
opinion  or  principle,  of  others  he  is  ever  exacting.  After  time  and 
again  proclaiming  the  English  a  grammarless  tongue,  that  it  is  "  dead," 
he  yet  devotes  a  goodly  portion  of  two  volumes  to  the  discussion  of 
matters  that  by  his  own  restricted  definition  are  grammatical.  Like 
Falstaff,  he  wounds  anew  his  dead  Percy,  and  lugs  him  around  as  a 
trophy  of  his  prowess.  Meanwhile,  too,  he  continues  his  disputa- 
tions as  though  the  battle  of  grammar  was  still  raging.  With  an 
ingenuity  worthy  of  a  cause  more  vital,  he  rings  the  changes  on  "is 
being  done''  with  the  reiterative  refrain  of,  "Punch,  punch,  punch 
with  care."  Presumably,  then,  some  forms  of  grammar  have  vitality 
enough  to  furnish  toying  for  their  sworn  enemy.  Thirty-five  years 
ago,  when  a  youth,  we  read  a  discussion  of  this  same  form  of  words 
in  our  village  newspaper,  and  the  same  conclusion  wTas  reached  by 
the  editor  as  by  Mr.  White;  that  it  is  an  unreasonable  form;  but  it 
was  not  insisted  as  bv  him  that  the  verb  "to  be"  means  "to  exist" 
and  nothing  else.  Nor  if  there  be  any  authorities  do  they  coincide 
with  him.  Generally  the  masters  teach  that  "to  be"  is  a  substantive 
verb,  and  as  such  it  is  the  equivalent  of  "to  exist;"  though  they 
would  deny  that  the  verbs  could  be  used  interchangeably.  Rut  they 
further  teach  that  as  a  symbol  verb  "  to  be"  faintly,  if  at  all,  sug- 
gests the  idea  of  existence.  This  fading  of  significance  comes  about 
through  enclyticism  as  well  as  symbolism.  As  illustrative  of  waning 
through  symbolism — the  wrord  "now"  in  the  clause,  "  Now  I  know 
in  part,"  loses  its  presenti veness  in  the  succeeding  verse  in  the  clause, 
"And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity."    In  the  latter  case  the  nor- 


A  FOKTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


11 


mal  significance  has  escaped,  and  the  word  becomes  a  mere  illative, 
with  no  reference  to  present  times.  As  corroborative  the  Greek  text 
in  one  instance  is  arti,  in  the  other  nuni  de.  In  the  sublime  words, 
"  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am,"  the  verb  "  am  "  has  a  personal ness  and 
presentiveness  that  evaporates  in  current  colloquial  phrases,  where 
leaning  on  a  pronoun,  or,  we  may  say,  sharing  its  individuality  with 
a  pronoun  and  a  verb,  it  is  depleted  in  meaning;  as  in  such  expres- 
sions as  "I'm  going,"  "  it's  done."  But  whether  the  point  be  well 
taken  or  not,  we  submit  that  Mr.  White,  in  showing  the  unreason- 
ableness of  such  forms  of  words  as,  "is  being  done,"  "  is  being  built," 
and  the  like,  is  teaching  grammar,  and  teaching  it  after  the  manner 
of  thousands,  with  the  exception  that  he  teaches  unprofessionally  and 
therefore  under  the  ardor  of  a  fresh  discovery.  In  his  labor  of  love 
he  lias  gone  so  far  as  to  formulate  a  conjugation  for  which  our  Georgia 
backwoodsmen  might  return  him  a  vote  of  thanks — 

INDICATIVE  MOOD. 

PRESENT  AND  IMPERFECT  TENSE. 

Singular.  Plural. 

1.  I  done  1.  We  uns  done. 

2.  Yer  done.  2.  You  uns  done. 

3.  He  done.  3.  They  uns  done. 

Future- Perfect. 

J.  I  gwine  gone  done.  1.  We  uns  gwine  gone  done. 

2.  Yer  gwine  gone  done.       2.  You  uns  gwine  gone  done. 

3.  He  gwine  gone  done.        3.  They  uns  gwine  gone  done. 

He  would  have  us  distinguish  grammar  and  philology,  but  in  the 
fierceness  of  his  shifting  onsets,  he  forgets  his  own  announced  differ- 
entiation. Drawing  the  line  between  the  two  is  no  easy  task,  for  they 
now  and  then  become  confluent.  Just  where  in  the  study  of  language 
they  meet  is  hard  to  put  in  words,  but  they  do  meet,  and  perplexingly 
enough  they  mingle.  Their  duty  is  similiar:  both  take  account  of 
speech,  the  one  restrictively,  the  other  historically.  Grammar  deduces 
its  principles  from  accredited  models,  recognized  master-pieces.  Once 
itself  systematized,  it  assumes  authority  and  speaks  oracularly — 
becomes,  it  may  be,  a  moralist  rebuking  the  Keltic  sin  of  confounding 
"  will  "  and  "shall,"  and  "  would  "  and  "should;"  or  a  ritualist,  cour- 
teously, but  with  churchly  consequence,  insisting  on  the  reverent 
crossing  of  our  tts.  Grammar,  too,  grows  aristocratic,  admitting  to 
her  charmed  circle  no  low-born  word,  no  unconventional  phraseology. 
Such  are  her  vanities.  Philology  is  not  so.  Including  in  its  scope 
the  technics  of  grammar,  it  passes  like  a  real  lady  from  calisthenic 
training  to  an  unconscious  graceful  carriage.  So  sensible  is  she,  how- 
ever, that  the  uneasy  gait  of  those  yet  in  pupilage  offends  her  not. 


12 


Dismissing  cavils  of  prudery,  she  looks  at  language  as  it  is.  Once 
established,  grammar,  like  art,  becomes  conservative,  settling  practice 
at  the  sacrifice  even  of  versatility  and  productiveness.  Not  until  after 
Lessing  had  deduced  from  the  masters  in  sculpture  painting  and 
poetry,  his  theory  of  aesthetics,  did  the  Laocoon  become  an  authority. 
Literature  would  after  a  time  cease  to  energize  in  fresh  expression 
were  not  the  restraints  of  form  in  some  sort  relaxed  by  the  flexibilitv 
that  comes  of  freedom.  The  acme  of  rule  is  found  in  the  dead-lock 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  monks  set  the  bones  of  their  skeleton  bar- 
bara,  eelarent,  etc.,  as  profitlessly  as  they  counted  their  beads.  Art 
finds  its  renewal  and  increase  of  beauty  and  strength  in  the  ceaseless 
combinations  which  the  mind  discovers  in  its  freer  moods,  and  in  its 
communings  with  the  outer  world.  The  same  sun  shines  to-day  as 
lighted  tile  else  darkened  universe  when  God  said,  "  Let  there  be 
light,  and  there  was  light ;"  but  the  intervening  heavens,  and  the 
veering  clouds,  and  the  recipient  earth  so  modify  it  that  the  light  has 
not  disclosed  the  same  scene  a  single  hour  since  the  creation ;  the 
gliding  year  and  the  sweet  return  of  the  seasons  lend  their  influence 
to  render  art  Protean  and  progressive.  For  though  for  a  while  the 
creative  hand  of  art  may  have  been  fettered  by  the  canons  of  the 
schools,  the  undying  but  variant  charms  of  nature  forbid  the  unbro- 
ken slumber  of  taste  or  the  paralysis  of  genius.  And  thus  it  is  in  all 
learning  and  in  all  culture;  specially  so  in  the  relation  of  philology 
and  grammar.  Left  to  itself,  grammar  would  fossilize  language. 
But  it  is  not  thus  left.  A  veritable  communist,  philology  makes 
requisition  on  the  popular  favorites  and  audaciously  presents  them  for 
enrollment.  Nor  indeed  does  damage  of  necessity  accrue  to  literature 
by  the  notices  bestowed  on  the  idioms  of  the  unlettered  by  philology. 
A  loss  of  prestige  may  be  set  off  by  a  gain  of  power.  The  gulf  stream 
of  philology  may  float  in  its  current  the  wreck  of  many  a  word,  the 
soil  of  many  an  impurity  of  speech;  but  these  are  "  unconsidered 
trifles,"  slight  defilements,  when  we  remember  that  in  its  flow  it  tem- 
pers the  great  body  and  vitalizes  the  volume  of  the  ocean  of  letters. 

But  if  we  descry  the  drift  of  his  teachings,  Mr.  White  would  unset- 
tle our  schools  and  school  systems  without  the  hinted  hope  of  a  better 
adjustment.  He  would  render  the  spirit  of  education  uniformly 
aggressive;  and  in  his  rebellion  against  the  supposed  tyranny  of  the 
rules  of  English,  he  would  dynamite  the  whole  parliament  of  gram- 
marians, and  the  very  tower  of  our  English  armory.  But  he  hardly 
means  all  he  says,  or  as  much  as  he  says.  He  speaks  strongly.  Anx- 
ious to  impress  his  views,  he  probibly  strains  them,  and  in  their 
defense  argues  ex  abundantia.  There  is  cause  to  revise  our  methods 
of  teaching  and  our  text-books;  reform,  however,  is  called  for,  not 
revolution.  Grammar,  we  think,  is  too  much  studied  in  the  early, 
too  little  in  the  later  school  days.  Ely's  crime  was  ignorance  of  child- 
capacity.  This  ignorance  still  befogs  many  a  teacher  and  many  a 
parent.    Blunders  thus  arising  are  damaging.    Besides  the  teacher 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


13 


mistakingly  relies  too  much  on  the  home  training  of  the  pupil.  Igno- 
ring elementary  work,  the  basis  of  all  higher  knowledge,  Mr.  White, 
inadvertently,  no  doubt,  fosters  this  error  among  teachers.  Facility 
in  speaking  English,  it  should  be  remembered,  does  not  include 
ability  in  writing  it.  Ladies  sometimes  converse  charmingly,  but 
write  disenchantingly.  Students,  we  may  add,  who  easily  translate 
from  a  foreign  to  their  native  tongue,  from  empirical  knowledge  fail 
in  reversing  the  process.  But  more  than  all,  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
Mr.  White  overlooks  the  danger  to  a  large  class  of  well-meaning,  but 
scantily  equipped,  teachers,  who  rniss  the  safer  meaning  between  his 
lines,  and  unwisely  appropriate 'his  conspicuous  and  radical  specula- 
tions. 

Though  in  his  comparison  of  "  British  English"  and  "  American 
English"  in  "Words  and  Their  Uses,"  Mr.  White  makes  a  pertinent 
defense  of  the  American,  yet  in  his  UH  Malady  in  England,"  pub- 
lished in  the  January  "Atlantic,"  he  says:  "That  which  is  accord- 
ing to  the  recognized  standard  of  speech  in  England  is  English." 
And  as  we  understand  him,  he  means  it  is  so  par  excellence.  We  had 
heartily  gone  with  him  in  the  former  discussion  and  regret  that  this 
modification  of  judgment  leads  to  a  partial  divergence.  The  discrep- 
ancy in  his  opinions  is  hardly  met  by  the  presumption  that  in  the  one 
case  he  may  be  considering  spoken,  and  in  the  other  written  language. 
For  do  not  the  written  and  spoken  interact?  And  though  somewhat 
differing,  if  the  one  form  of  use  decline  in  purity,  will  not  the  other 
be  affected  ?  Further:  if  "  reason  and  taste"  together  constitute  the 
arbitrament  .of  written,  why  not  of  spoken  language?  If  "custom, 
the  custom  of  the  best  society,  is  the  absolute  law  as  to  pronunciation, 
and  in  most  respects  and  within  certain  limits  the  only  law  of  lan- 
guage," as  he  says  in  the  number  of  the  "  Atlantic"  mentioned,  why 
elsewhere  does  he  set  up  another  standard  ? 

Now  as  to  the  relative  worth  of  our  speech  as  given  forth  by  Eng- 
lishmen or  Americans,  we  would  say  that,  veneration  for  ancestors  is 
inborn  and  ennobling,  but  it  is  not  incompatible  with  self-assertion 
in  the  descendant.  They  are  complemental  qualities.  The  virtues 
of  those  who  make  the  homestead  a  blessing  are  transmissible.  A 
daughter  may  be  as  attractive  and  sweet  of  voice  as  her  mother,  and 
if  a  new  home  should  at  any  time  be  established,  it  would  in  most 
respects  be  a  reproduction  of  the  old  one.  Proudly  tracing  the  prin- 
ciples of  their  constitution,  as  they  do  the  line  of  their  ancestry  to 
Great  Britain,  Americans  ever  English-speaking  have  had  no  cause 
to  decline  from  the  purity  of  their  mother-tongue  as  it  came  from 
the  mother-country  ;  nor  is  there  reason  to  suppose  that  the  changes 
incident  to  all  language  life,  should  be  more  marked  here  than  in 
England.  But  were  they  more  rapid  and  violent,  yet  if  we  have 
become  an  independent  nation,  and  grown  to  greatness  in  a  century — 
must  the  independence  be  limited  to  national  life?  But  we  have  not 
had  in  the  matter  of  speech  even  the  appearance  of  unfilialness.  While 


14 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


building  up  a  literature  among  ourselves  with  no  purpose  to  make  it 
American,  we  have  not  regarded  the  literature  of  England  as  that  of 
a  foreign  country — it  belongs  to  both.  The  prepossessions  were  all 
in  its  favor,  and  this  alone  would  keep  ours  Anglian.  The  law  of 
primogeniture  making  culture  as  well  as  property  hereditary  is  a  fac- 
tor which  might  differentiate  our  speech-habits  from  theirs;  but  at 
best  this  law  operates  directly  and  indirectly  to  conserve  the  higest 
culture  for  a  few  only  ;  whereas  in  the  United  States,  through  the 
democracy  of  our  institutions,  a  large  class  attains  to  the  best  educa- 
tion our  schools  afford.  The  body  of  American  scholars  thus  trained, 
from  the  lack  of  wealth  and  the  absence  of  rank,  may  fail  of  the  ele- 
gancies of  society  English,  but  they  are  not  debarred  by  want  of 
social  eminence  from  becoming  conversant  with  our  vernacular  as 
needed  in  philosophy  and  literature.  More  and  more  as  the  common 
school  system  extends  and  improves,  and  the  high  schools  in  our  towns 
and  cities  multiply,  shall  there  be  sent  forward  to  our  colleges  and 
professional  schools,  students  who  in  the  end  will  make  common  the 
acquirements  which  now  may  be  partial.  And  if  the  election  is  to  be 
made  between  the  authority  of  the  few  who  are  conventionally  above 
the  classes  where  compelled  activity  imparts  vigor,  and  the  economies 
of  life  sharpen  the  faculties,  and  the  open  field  invites  emulation,  rea- 
son if  not  taste  would  prefer  the  judgment  of  the  instructed  man  v. 
But  apart  from  any  considerations  presented  adverse  to  the  dictum  of 
Mr.  White,  it  may  be  further  urged  this  British  bias  clashes  with  the 
repeated  declaration  that  there  is  no  authority  in  the  consensus  of  any 
class.  But  were  there  marked  differences,,  which  is  not  the  case,  rea- 
son, other  things  equal,  would  side  with  home  usage.  Verily,  how- 
ever, what  remains  in  English  literature  distinctively  American  or 
British  cannot  long  resist  the  homogeneous  tendency  of  our  increasing 
intercommunion. 

The  objections  to  what  Mr.  White  has  written  on  grammar  and 
kindred  topics,  are  by  no  means  comparable,  in  number  and  impor- 
tance, to  the  number  and  excellence  of  his  stirring  comments  and 
criticisms.  The  objections  lie  rather  against  the  want  of  accord  in 
his  teachings,  than  to  any  grave  specific  errors.  Evidently  he  has 
been  a  wide  reader  in  these  studies;  he  has  been  to  "a  feast  of  Eng- 
lish, and  has  brought  away  more  than  scraps  of  knowledge."  It 
would  be  well,  however,  should  he  so  formulate  his  teachings  that 
they  would  not  conflict  in  details,  nor  deviate  from  his  standard  of 
"  reason  and  taste."  The  number  of  illustrations  might  be  so  classi- 
fied, that  the  student  would  look  to  the  danger  of  violating  general 
principles  of  speech,  rather  than  of  blundering  in  the  use  of  unreasona- 
ble or  distasteful  forms  of  words.  As  now  presented,  the  student,  if 
inexperienced,  might  be  inclined  to  infer  that  the  abuses  noted  are  all 
that  are  to  be  met  with,  and  fancy  himself  exempt  from  errors,  when 
escaping  those  pointed  out. 

Mr.  White  sometimes,  as  we  have  intimated,  elevates  one  part  of 


A  FORTUNATE  FLOGGING. 


15 


his  standard  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  As  an  instance  of  exalting 
reason  above  its  sister  taste,  and  as  a  piece  of  inimitable  special  plead- 
ing, we  invite  attention  to  his  defence  of  Lowell  in  the  coinage  and 
poetic  (?)  use  of  the  double  back-action  word,  "  undispri  vacied  "  "  Dis- 
privacied"  he  says,  "  is  as  unknown  to  dictionaries  as  privacied  or 
widisprivaeied ;  but  its  meaning — having  had  privacy  taken  away — 
is  dear,  and  its  formation  as  normal  as  that  of  "  disprised  or  dis- 
gusted."   Then  comes  the  double  prefix  in  the  "  Cathedral  :" 

u  Play  with  his  child,  make  love,  and  shriek  his  mind, 
By  throngs  of  strangers  undisprivaded." 

It  may  be  asked,  as  wi  here  merely  cancels  dis,  to  which  it  is  pre- 
fixed, how  does  undisprivaded.  differ  from  privacied,  and  what  neces- 
sity justifies  the  use  of  the  former?  To  this  the  reply  is,  that 
although  the  ua  merely  cancels  the  dis,  there  is  in  disprivaeied  a  sug- 
gestion of  an  active  and  unpleasant  taking  away  of  privacy,  (and  that 
therefore  an  undisprivaded  man  is  one  w  ho  has  escaped  that  injury 
from  those  who  are  "willing  to  inflict  it  )  while  in  privacied  there  is  no 
such  implication.  All  this  comes  at  once  by  intuition  to  men  who 
are  masterful  in  language,  or  ready  and  true  in  its  apprehension." 
Ah,  that  mythical  "  meeting  of  forefathers  two  hundred  and  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago  in  Cambridge,  where  Gore  Hall  now  stands."  must 
have  something  to  do  with  the  preparation  of  this  morceau.  Well,  to 
say  the  least,  it  is  an  "'  nndislowellizing  "  defence. 

For  an  "unconscious"  writer,  Mr.  White  has  unusual  skill  in 
placing  his  subject  and.  predicates.  If  a  single  sentence  be  analyzed, 
one  can  rarely  mistake  his  meaning.  It  is  only  when  he  passes  to 
fresh  but  kindred  themes  that  he  loses  sight  of  his  antecedents.  He 
has  all  the  present nesti  of  the  disputant  though  not  all  the  consistency 
of  the  philosopher.  In  view  of  his  valuable  services  the  public  should 
be  grateful,  and  in  consideration  of  his  amendment  Ely  .should  rest 
in  peace. 


Date  Due 




,  





Form  335—  <25M — 7-35 — B-M.Co. 

